CHAP. I.] GENERAL REMARKS. 7 



The export of flax, prepared by the natives, has 

 dwindled almost to nothing in the last few years, 

 as, from their increased intercourse with Europeans, 

 they have been enabled, by a slight degree of agri- 

 cultural labour, to obtain all the commodities which 

 they require ; and they are therefore averse to the 

 dressing of the flax, which has, moreover, always 

 been the work of the women, and was only resorted 

 to by the men in times of war, for the purpose of 

 procuring muskets, powder, and shot. It is quite 

 true that this valuable plant covers immense dis- 

 tricts in New Zealand, and could be procured in 

 any quantity, if a cheap method of preparing it were 

 known ; but till then it cannot be regarded as likely 

 to promote the commercial interests of the colony. 



The results of the whale-fishery on the coasts of 

 New Zealand are of very small amount in the British 

 market, owing to the indiscriminate slaughter of 

 the fish during the last fifteen years, without due 

 regard to the preservation of the dams and their 

 young. The shore- whalers, in hunting the animal 

 in the season when it visits the shallow waters of 

 the coast to bring forth the young, and suckle it in 

 security, have felled the tree to obtain the fruit, 

 and have thus taken the most certain means of 

 destroying an otherwise profitable and important 

 trade. 



As for the belief that the ships of the several 

 nations engaged in this trade must resort to New 

 Zealand for refitting, as being in the centre of the 



